Farewell to our beloved Program Director, Kurt

It is with mixed emotions that we share that PHFS’ long-term Program Director, Kurt Briggs-Ungerer, is leaving PHFS. He has held the Program Director role at PHFS for over 10 years and has been instrumental in creating the inclusive, trauma informed organization that PHFS is today. Kurt is leaving PHFS so he can better support his family and young children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the last decade, Kurt has built a strong infrastructure in our housing and shelter programs, which are now poised to continue Kurt’s legacy of providing strengths-based, supportive, client-centered services at PHFS. Kurt has always been known as an incredibly supportive supervisor and has been called “my favorite boss ever” by a number of different staff at PHFS. 

“I will always love and respect PHFS, our staff, our families, and everyone else involved with our village.  I know that I am leaving PHFS in great hands and you all will continue to do the fantastic, compassionate work you do so well!  Obviously, my decision to leave did not come lightly, but I need to support my family, including my two young children, during this global pandemic.  I will miss you and everyone involved with PHFS so much!”

Kurt’s last day as Program Director will be December 1st, though Kurt will be sticking around for the month of December as a consultant to help ease the transition. We are so thankful for Kurt’s leadership and we are confident that the structure he has built will serve PHFS for many years to come. Kurt will be very missed and will always be part of our PHFS village.

While it will be challenging to fill his shoes, PHFS has posted the Program Director Job Announcement on our website. Please share with your networks and help PHFS find our next program director.

Brandi and Kurt at a volunteer celebration party in 2010.

Kurt, Mary, and Carl (the housing team!) working at the PHFS office in 2013 at Goose Hollow Family Shelter.

Kurt and Steve at Holiday Village in 2010.

Kurt, Brandi, and the PHFS staff at Thirteen Salmon Family Center in 2015.

Brandi and Kurt all dressed up at the Family Reunion Fundraiser in 2016!

Our operations team celebrating the success of our Capital Campaign to purchase our Family Village Campus in 2018!

Every family deserves a place to call home.

PHFS is here to help families get housing, and then keep it.

Dear friends,

During this season of holiday gratitude, we want you to know that we are so grateful for your past support of PHFS. Investments from community members like you have allowed PHFS to be on the forefront of providing innovative services for over ten years. 

PHFS is known for pioneering our upstream approach to preventing homelessness, for being early adopters of the housing first approach, and for integrating trauma-informed design and architecture into the built environment at our Family Village campus.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of need for our programs. Over 3,300 students experience homelessness each year in Multnomah County, and right now hundreds of families are on a waitlist for shelter and help moving back into housing. 

When you do the math, you start to see why so many families need help: because many jobs don’t provide a living wage, and housing is really expensive. Families pay too much of their income on housing and don’t have enough left over for their family’s household needs. Many families just can’t make ends meet and end up experiencing homelessness with their kids.

That’s where PHFS comes in. Ideally, PHFS hears from families right before they lose their housing, so our homeless prevention program can help before the crisis hits and help families keep their homes. If not, families have a safe space to shelter together at Family Village where trauma-informed design helps them heal from the stress and trauma of homelessness. While in shelter, parents work with a housing specialist to move quickly back into housing. We provide a rent subsidy for at least a year to help families stabilize in housing. 

Our housing team builds trusting relationships with families so we can support them in accomplishing their goals and improving their lives – like getting a new job that makes more money, or going back to school to learn a trade that pays a living wage. What we do works - 90% of families stay housed long-term. 

We have adapted our programs to serve families even during the covid-19 pandemic. Please continue your investment and make a donation to PHFS’ critical programs that empower homeless families with children to get back into housing – and stay there.

Warmly,

Brandi Tuck
Executive Director

P.S. Over the last year, our critical services helped 1,234 kids and parents end their homelessness for good. With your support, we can help even more families next year. 

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Do The Math

This is a monthly budget of a family in our programs. PHFS subsidizes this family’s rent so they can afford the rest of their expenses. 

PHFS works with families to help them get better jobs and find more affordable housing so they can keep their housing long-term.

What’s missing?

Families often live paycheck to paycheck. This family couldn’t budget for emergencies, savings, or after school activities for their kids.

Kelly’s Violin

2020 has been a year of full of cancellations, full of nos, and full of loss. With all of the darkness this year, we wanted to share something really special happening at right now at our Family Village shelter.

6th grader Kelly started her beginning orchestra class this year. But Kelly didn’t have a violin, so we coordinated with our friends at Oregon Symphony who procured a violin for Kelly to practice on.

Our Shelter Coordinator, Steve, shared the experience of giving Kelly the violin:

“Kelly received her violin this morning, and she was absolutely beaming. It was so wonderful to see. We talked about how an instrument becomes like part of your body and how music is connected to math, nature, and how all things are intertwined. She said she felt like music is a great way to express her emotions in a safe and positive way. She is so excited about her orchestra friends and believes they are friends she will treasure forever.”

In addition to finding Kelly a violin, we needed to find Kelly a quiet and safe place to practice. This wasn’t an easy task in a communal living shelter during a pandemic, but our covid-19 task force collaborated and was able to find her a private room three afternoons a week. One of our Shelter Coordinators, Chrissy, is even giving her weekly lessons.

In a world full of so much stress and division, these are the conversations going on at PHFS – talking about where Kelly can play her violin.

Services Update

Learn how we have adapted our programs to continue to meet the needs of families experiencing homelessness during this unprecedented time.

Family Village Shelter

Housing Program

Prevention Program

Volunteer Program

Virtual Family Reunion Wrap Up

We exceeded our fundraising goal and raised more than $216,000!

Thank you to everyone who watched the event, bid in the auction, and gave generously. We truly felt like we had families supporting families more than ever before.

If you were moved by the stories of resilient families, please share the recording with your friends and families so more people can learn about the important work happening at PHFS.

Missed the event? Watch the recording! Skip ahead to 25:13 to begin.

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Thanks to our Sponsors!

Family Village Update

Spring has sprung! We have eleven raised beds with vegetables and herbs. This is our first spring at Family Village and it's been so fun to see flowers blooming all over the campus.

We continue to operate Family Village at full capacity. We're more grateful than ever to have individual private bedrooms that help with social distancing. Sadly, all of our common spaces are closed, but we're still serving meals and following public health guidelines to keep all of the staff and families safe. Spoiler alert: it's a lot of cleaning!

Our housing and prevention programs also continue full steam ahead. Just this week, one of the moms in shelter found out that she was approved to move into an apartment. She is so excited to move her two girls into the safety of their very own home.

While rewarding, doing this work right now is incredibly challenging and expensive. We've had to continually adapt our programming to meet changing public health guidance, and we have had to source scarce and expensive personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies.

We don't know what the future holds, but we do know that families without homes have been, and will continue to be, more vulnerable to the effects of this virus. We also know that PHFS will be here to support these families no matter what.

Please consider a donation to PHFS' COVID-19 response fund to make sure we can continue operating our critical services during this pandemic.

Family Village Virtual Backgrounds

Who else has attended 1,000 Zoom meetings in the last few weeks? The PHFS Staff sure has! Our staff who have been working from home miss spending time in our beautiful new Family Village Campus. We were only here together for three months before we had to social distance.

To make it feel like we’re still all together, we’ve been setting our virtual backgrounds to different rooms around the new building. We want you to be able to hang out in Family Village with us, so we’re sharing our backgrounds with you!

Next time you log onto Zoom, consider using one of these Family Village scenes as your background. We have shared some instructions on how to use them below the photos.

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Hang out in Virtual Family Village!

Main Living Area

Kid Play Space

Rec Room

Living Room

Library

Office

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How to use virtual backgrounds

First, save the images to your computer by right clicking and then selecting “save the image” onto your computer. You’ll have to right click and save each image individually.

Once you’re in your Zoom meeting, navigate to the bottom left near where it says “Stop Video.” Click the ^ arrow to the right of the “Stop Video” button.

Select “Choose Virtual Background”

Then choose the small “+” sign on the upper right to upload your Family Village images. Make sure you check the box “I have a green screen” (even if you don’t!) and uncheck “Mirror my video.” You will need to be in front of a relatively blank wall.

Then just Close the Virtual Background page and see yourself at Family Village! Have fun, and please take a photo and tag us in it!

Instagram: @pdx_hfs
Twitter: @pdx_hfs
Facebook: @Portland Homeless Family Solutions
LinkedIn: @Portland Homeless Family Solutions

Photos by Christopher Dibble Photography.

Staying Engaged while Staying at Home

Many of us find ourselves at home with extra time on our hands. We asked PHFS staff to share their favorite media that focus on housing, homelessness, anti-oppression, or social justice.

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Title: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Type: Book
Platform: Get the ebook from the library or buy from Powells online
Staff: Emma, Development Director
Synopsis: Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads…Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible. Source: https://www.evictedbook.com/

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Title: Insecure
Type: TV Show
Platform: HBO
Staff: Brandi, Executive Director
Why she recommends it: This is a show on HBO about a black woman, Issa, who works at a nonprofit called "We Got Y'all." They provide after school programs and resources to black and brown kids in public schools. The nonprofit's leadership and the majority of their staff is white. The show really highlights how institutionally and systemically oppressive and racist nonprofits can be if they don't confront their white privilege and white savior complexes. Plus the cast is amazing!

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Title: Little America
Type: TV Show
Platform: Apple TV
Staff: Lahela, Shelter Coordinator
Why she recommends it: Each episode is a beautiful true story of the success of immigrants in their own “little America”. 

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Title: The Motel Kids of Orange County
Type: Documentary
Platform: HBO
Staff: Carl, Housing Specialist
Why he recommends it: This documentary is set against the backdrop of the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and focuses on families who live out of motels. I feel like this doc reveals the complexity of families who are "stuck" paying to live in a temporary situation and not being able to find a long-term housing. Many of the families we work with are in situations just like this, with move in fees anywhere from $2-$3k before paying rent, utility hook up and service, phone, internet, food, clothing, child care, etc.

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Title: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Type: Book
Platform: Get the ebook from the library or buy from Powells online
Staff: Brandi, Executive Director
Why she recommends it: Author Michelle Alexander confronts the reality that the election of Barack Obama did not signal a new era of colorblindness and that in fact racism, oppression, and slavery continue to this very day in America. 

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Title: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Type: Book
Platform: Get the ebook from the library or buy from Powells online
Staff: Brandi, Executive Director
Why she recommends it: A book by Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel & Dimed tells the story of an undercover journalist who investigates the impact of the 1996 welfare reform on people who experience poverty in this country. It does a great job of showing how hard it is to navigate social services and how expensive it is to be poor. 

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Title: Frontline: Poverty, Politics, and Profit
Type: TV
Platform: Stream on PBS for free
Staff: Tasha, Administrative Coordinator
Why she recommends it: This was an incredibly informative film about the complex issue of affordable housing.  It brings to light the challenges and politics surrounding this issue and allows us to see first-hand stories from every day people. 

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Title: Priced Out
Type: Documentary
Platform: Watch on Vimeo or check out for free on Kanopy with a library card
Staff: Samuel, Housing & Prevention Specialist
Synopsis: Exploring the complexities and contradictions of gentrification, Priced Out is a heartbreaking vision of the history of housing discrimination in the nation's whitest city, and the personal impact it has had on residents. Source: https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

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Title: Still Processing
Type: Podcast
Platform: New York Times, wherever you get your podcasts
Staff: Emma, Development Director
Why she recommends it: Still Processing is a pop culture podcast where they analyze everything with a social justice lens. It’s entertaining and so smart.

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Title: Trigger Warning with Killer Mike
Type: TV Show
Platform: Netflix
Staff: Samuel, Housing & Prevention Specialist
Why he recommends it: The first episode of Trigger Warning with Killer Mike on Netflix is a really great, and entertaining, look at the effects and reality historic and systemic racism in the US.

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Do you have recommendations to add to this list? Let us know!

Response to COVID-19

We wanted to let you all know that PHFS is taking the COVID-19 pandemic very seriously. Here are some of the steps we are taking to ensure our PHFS Village stays healthy and doesn't spread the virus: 

• We are asking families in shelter who have any symptoms of illness to self-quarantine in their private bedrooms and wear masks whenever they go to any common spaces. We have set up a separate dining area for people who have any symptoms of illness.

• All staff and volunteers who have any symptoms of illness are being asked to stay home until they don't have a fever for at least 72 hours. 

  • All other volunteer shifts are occurring as scheduled. If you are a member of a vulnerable population or are uncomfortable coming in for an upcoming volunteer shift for any reason, please inform us as soon as possible. 

• Of course, we are sanitizing surfaces and washing our hands a ton. We have hand washing and COVID-19 information for families in multiple languages. 

• We are practicing social distancing and trying to not get within 6 feet of another person. 

• We are postponing all scheduled events, including our March 25 Solution Salon and our March 25 Volunteer Training on Trauma Informed Care.

• The Joint Office on Homeless Services is being very supportive with a ton of information, supplies like masks and sanitizer, and even $10,000 to each nonprofit service provider to help with coronavirus financial impacts. 

Here are some helpful resources on COVID-19:

•  Oregon Health Authority COVID-19 Interim Shelter Guidance

• Videos and link to COVID-19 updates and resources

• Latest updates

• Sign up for their updates email list

• Info in different languages – Go to Home page and click on Novel coronavirus updates and scroll down to “Prevention” links

• Housing services, which currently only has link to Interim Shelter Guidance

• OHA’s Youtube Channel with multiple related videos

• Press briefings live streamed at 2 pm every Monday and Thursday on their Youtube channel

Spring Impact Report

Every spring, we like to share an Impact Report with our PHFS Village so you can see the impact we made in the community over the last year. This is the most exciting Impact Report I ever remember writing, because I get to report that we opened Family Village to shelter 25 homeless families with children and expanded all of our PHFS programs! 

We are trying to do something different at Family Village. We’re trying to show there’s a better way to provide shelter and services that helps people heal from the crisis and trauma of homelessness by building dignity, restoring power, and promoting autonomy.

I say those things all the time, but what do they really mean?

• Building dignity means feeling like you matter. Like you have worth, acceptance, and love. It’s about being in collaborative relationships that focus on people’s strengths and expertise.

• Restoring power means being able to make your own decisions without having your behavior micromanaged or controlled. It’s about feeling like you’re in control of your own life and like you have privacy when you need it. It’s about feeling safe, both in your surroundings and in your relationships.

• Promoting autonomy is about respecting people and honoring their choices, even when you don’t agree with them. It’s about being able to express your family values, culture, and traditions openly and safely. It’s about setting and honoring boundaries, and being in healthy relationships that are built on trust.

That’s what we’re trying to do here at our beautiful Family Village campus, the first shelter of its kind featuring trauma informed design and architecture.

I say it every year, but this year it is more meaningful than ever – thank you so much to you, our PHFS Village, for helping PHFS expand and improve our programs in such powerful and innovative ways. Together, we are putting families first and creating solutions that help end family homelessness for thousands of kids and their parents.

Gratefully,

Brandi Tuck
Executive Director

Happy to be home for the holidays and beyond!

In our Homelessness Prevention Program, families who are on the brink of homelessness get help keeping their housing and never have to experience homelessness at all. PHFS pays back rent and utilities for families during times of emergency like an unexpected illness and medical bills, a car that breaks down, or suddenly losing hours at work.

Shelly received support from our Homelessness Prevention Program last week and wanted to share her story.

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My name is Shelly, I am a single working mother of four boys. I have been a single mom pretty much all my life. I graduated college in 2000 and started working in the medical field where I remained for the last 17 years. Recently I made a career change and I am working at a law firm in downtown Portland. I am very lucky to have a decent job and great boys to raise and love.

I have always been a really active person in my community and a sports mom. I have always found a way to make ends meet for the boys and I with very little assistance. But last year my life changed without warning! I was diagnosed with a very rare genetic heart disease that cost me over $7,500.00 in medical expenses and many days off work. Over the holidays, I had a significant medical procedure and had to take time off without pay because I had already used all my vacation and sick time with previous procedures. This resulted in shut off notices for all my utilities, and I owed $400 in co-pays from previous hospital visits. My stable little life as I knew it was falling apart before my eyes and I felt so drowned.

I received an eviction notice in December and I was able to get an advance, which ultimately resulted in a shortage for January’s rent. My life was spiraling out of control fast and I felt hopeless. I reached out to seek services, but kept hearing they could only help me once I became homeless. The last thing I needed was to be sick and homeless with four beautiful children.

I googled “Homeless Prevention” and that’s when I saw some light at the end of the storm. I found Portland Homeless Family Solutions and spoke to someone immediately. The woman from PHFS was so kind and patient. She listened to my story, she was very honest and upfront, and connected me with Samuel [PHFS’ Housing & Prevention Specialist]. When Samuel called, it was like a prayer had been answered. He listened to me very patiently and told me about the program and the vision - how their goal is to keep people housed when they’re in a temporary bind like mine.

I had no idea how long this would take or if we would be homeless soon - it’s so cold outside. I have been a ball of nerves for weeks thinking about this. What happened next was like a miracle. Samuel emailed me, told me that my application was approved, and that they would be saving our home this month. In addition, he had already given a promissory note to the management and was in process of cutting a check. I could not believe this happened, I am so grateful and thankful!

These people are truly saving lives one home at a time!

Sincerely,

Shelly & Boys

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Family Village Grand Opening!

This speech was originally given by PHFS Executive Director, Brandi Tuck, at the Grand Opening of Family Village in December 2019.

Photo by Motoya Nakamura / Multnomah County.

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Good evening everyone and welcome for the first time to PHFS’ Family Village!

The front of Family Village

Christopher Dibble Photography

After two long years of a capital campaign, a real estate purchase, and a massive remodel - It is an overwhelming moment for PHFS right now as we open this beautiful, innovative space.

I am honored to share this moment with all of you tonight.

We are trying to do something different here at Family Village.

We’re trying to show that there’s a better way to shelter – a way that helps people heal from the crisis and trauma of homelessness through building dignity, restoring power, and promoting autonomy.

I say those things all the time, but let’s talk about what they means.

• Building dignity – means feeling like you matter. Like you have worth, acceptance, and love. It’s about being in collaborative relationships that focus on people’s strengths and expertise.

• Restoring power – means being able to make your own decisions without having your behavior micromanaged or controlled. It’s about feeling like you’re in control of your own life and having privacy when you need it. It’s about feeling safe, both in your surroundings and in your relationships.

• Promoting autonomy – is about respecting people and honoring their choices, even when you don’t agree with them. It’s about being able to express your family values, culture, and traditions openly and safely. It’s about setting and honoring boundaries and being in healthy relationships that are built on trust.

View from the Rec Room looking down on the day shelter

Christopher Dibble Photography

That’s what we’re trying to do here at this beautiful Family Village campus, the first shelter of its kind featuring trauma informed design and architecture.

Research shows that trauma informed design leads to better outcomes for shelters – things like shorter shelter stays and greater success moving into housing.

We are honored to open this innovative new program together with our PHFS Village.

To say that opening Family Village is a community effort is an understatement. We have had hundreds of people and businesses step up to help over the last two years.

When I walk into Family Village, I feel the love, good will, and positive energy that radiates through this campus because of all of your contributions.

Thanks to each and every one of you for your donations, commitment, and passion for this project. We really couldn’t have created Family Village without the help of every single person in this room.

There are too many people to thank by name, but I have to call in a few people today, because they went so far above and beyond in their commitment to PHFS’ Family Village.

First, Jessica Helgerson and her two right hand ladies Andra and Heather, have put 800 hours of pro bono interior and architectural design into Family Village. Jessica shared my vision of building dignity for families, and she have taken it to levels I never could have imagined. Thank you Jessica.

View of the walking path and pet play area

Next, to our landscape architect Cathy Corlett who designed all of our outdoor areas, also pro bono. Cathy put so much love and research into our exterior landscape – focusing on elements that create joy, play, and connection.

Plus Cathy picked up a lot of the pieces for us when we just didn’t have capacity to think about many of the minute details.

Drew Anderson and Afton Walsh from Walsh Construction came in and lent a gentle, professional expertise that really helped save the day. We are so grateful that you stepped in to help, and I hope you know how much we appreciate you. Drew – you are my hero.

The folks at Stoel Rives including Mark, Geoff, Michael, and Kirk put so much time, love, and money into Family Village. We’ll never be able to thank you enough, especially Mark Morford, for building our fence and making our conference table, for putting in stair tread and painting ceilings, and hanging pictures, and anything we have asked of you.

Thanks to Ted, Jacob, and Curtis at Maul Foster Alongi who provided pro bono engineering help and so much patient guidance along the way. Everything I know about stormwater bioswales I learned from you.

Thanks to Andrea, Brian, and Corey from Carleton Hart Architecture for all of your guidance and help along the way.

Library

Christopher Dibble Photography

Thanks to Chris, Brenda, Kyle, and everyone involved with the Home Builders Foundation. You all pulled of quite a bit of miracles, many of them last-minute, and we appreciate your partnership.

Thank you to Heritage Bank, especially Kathy Swift and Emily Leach, for sponsoring this event tonight, and for your 2-years of support to help make this project happen. Kathy always says to reach out when you need her, and wow have we reached out!

She not only helped us buy our Moon Shot property, but she also does things like make potpourri sachets from dried roses that grow at Family Village. We appreciate everyone at Heritage Bank!

Thanks to Clear Water Construction Services including Dale, Phil, and CJ. We have had one helluva ride together, and I really appreciate you – especially Dale – sticking it out with us the whole way. This building is absolutely beautiful, and we are so grateful for your skilled craftmanship and hard work.

Thanks to all the volunteers who stepped up to help paint, install plants, stain the fence, paint the murals, put together furniture, break down cardboard, and so much more.

Thanks to Renee Gorham for providing our delicious Shalom Y’all catering tonight.

Thanks to Nancy Ives, the first chair cello from the Oregon Symphony, for gracing us with your beautiful music this evening.

One of four living rooms

Christopher Dibble Photography

Our PHFS Board has gone above and beyond in their commitment to this project. They have provided unrelenting support and belief in me and the staff, and they have been there with us every single step of the way. Thank you for being the most amazing board I could hope for.

And finally –  thanks to our PHFS staff for all your wisdom in creating Family Village, and also your flexibility and patience during our very long transition when we felt like the pit in the middle of the parking lot would never go away.

Some people have stepped up in some major ways over the last few weeks, and I can’t say thank you enough for your hard work, your long hours, your creativity, flexibility, collaboration, and love that you put into PHFS and our Family Village. I have endless thanks and so much love for Ron, Bethany, Emma, Tasha, TC, and Kurt. Plus Michael, Danny, Derenda, Neal, and Wiley. We did it.  

To have a vision, and then have a whole community get behind your vision, and then to have Jessica Helgerson take it to even the next level – is and will always be one of the greatest honors of my life.

Thank you so much to each and every one of you for helping make our Family Village a reality.

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All content is the intellectual property of Portland Homeless Family Solutions. We respectfully request anyone who wishes to use this information ask permission, or reference PHFS when using it.

Thanks to the generosity of Christopher Dibble Photography for taking these beautiful photos pro-bono.

We're Expanding Every Program!

It’s finally here – PHFS is ready to open our Family Village campus to drastically expand our services to families experiencing homelessness. Family Village is so much more than shelter. It’s the home to all of PHFS’ services and programs, and we’re expanding every single service we offer.

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This is a critical time for PHFS as we scale up to help three times as many families. Please consider an investment to help PHFS expand our services.

Donate to PHFS in Give!Guide!

PHFS is thrilled to join 151 other nonprofits in Willamette Week's Give!Guide. We're also thrilled that construction on our Family Village campus will be done in just a couple of weeks. We'll be able to open and welcome families this December!

All donations made through 2019 Give!Guide will help support our new expanded programs that help us triple our capacity for serving families! Please consider a gift to PHFS through the Give!Guide!

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Big Give Days

On seven special days during the Give!Guide campaign, you can win prizes if you donate $10 or more. Prizes include $500 Powell’s gift cards, Trail Blazers tickets, dining experiences, a bike, and more!

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Toro Bravo owners, Renee & John Gorham

GET FREE TORO BRAVO

Our amazing friends at Toro Bravo Inc. want to encourage you to donate to PHFS.

• $25+ donors receive a burger from Bless Your Heart Burgers

• $500+ donors will be entered to win a Tasting Menu for 8 at Mediterranean Exploration Company

• $75+ donors will be entered to win gift certificates to Toro Bravo Inc restaurants.

“Its an honor to support such an amazing organization, PHFS represents the compassion that our community needs. Their commitment to serving and empowering families should inspire us all to take part in donating to PHFS because every parent and child deserves the opportunity to thrive. If we all do a little, together we can do a lot!"" - Renee Gorham

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INCENTIVES

Everyone who donates $10+ to any organization will receive the Chinook Book app with coupons like one free taco from Porque No? taqueria, one free drip coffee from Nossa Familia Coffee, one free cold-pressed juice from Laughing Planet Cafe, and so many more!

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Back-to-School: Movie & Backpack Pick up!

For children experiencing homelessness, going back to school from summer break can be really stressful. It can be hard to concentrate, get your homework done, and make friends when you are not sleeping in your own bed.  

For the last four years, PHFS volunteers John and Rachel Devlin have organized a donation drive to provide these kids with everything they need to go back to school. This year, 56 donors came together to get backpacks and age-appropriate school supplies for all 100 kids in PHFS’ programs.

These children will begin their school year with everything they need, including Jansport backpacks, gift cards for back to school clothes, and tons of folders, pencils, crayons, binders, and more. Being prepared on the first day of school with the supplies they need made these kids feel so much more prepared and confident.

Families received these backpacks after watching a family-friendly film movie screening and enjoying popcorn at Hollywood Theatre. Hollywood Theatre generously hosted the movie screening and popcorn free of charge for Portland Homeless Family Solutions clients, staff, and volunteers. 

Sponsored by Hollywood Theatre and John and Rachel Devlin.

Reflecting on a Night of Service at PHFS

In February, Business for a Better Portland put out a call to action for members to volunteer at PHFS’ Family Winter Shelter. The response was immediate and significant – filling one-seventh of all the shifts for the entire winter shelter season. Kristen Cooper of Blackbird Benefits was one of those individuals who answered the call to action. Here are her reflections about the experience.

This was originally posted on Business for a Better Portland’s blog on April 25, 2019.

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Cooking is my love language. I know it’s a silly reference – but it’s just so accurate! Since I was as young as I can remember, my greatest joy has been cooking and sharing food with others, so when BBPDX put out the call to action supporting Portland Homeless Family Solutions by providing dinner to the residents of the winter shelter, it felt like a special opportunity to do just that.

Blackbird is a small agency, so we reached out to our community of friends and fellow business owners, and quickly gathered a team of 12, many of whom didn’t know about PHFS, or the winter shelter that was blocks from where they worked.

We knew we were preparing and serving dinner for about 60 people – half of them children age 5 or under – and being the robo-host (trademark pending) that I am, I fretted a bit about what to cook. In past experiences, I’ve cooked for people living on the street with very specific dietary needs and we had to keep things very simple.

We weren’t sure what dietary issues might factor into this situation, and wanted to make something that both parents and kids would enjoy. So, we settled on a cozy chicken stew and got busy in my kitchen. (In hindsight, it would have been great to have considered the logistics of transporting six huge, boiling hot pots of soup in the back of my vehicle, but hey, ya live and ya learn!)

We got to the shelter to set up dinner before the families returned from the day, then spent some time with Brandi learning more about the work of PFHS. Hearing the stats on the number of homeless children in PDX, over 4,000! was staggering. We followed that with a brief tour and entered the space where 22 families are sharing very close quarters – cots just two feet apart (many with stuffed animals) – without any personal privacy.

That hit me hard and I was instantly choking back tears.

I thought about how I feel after a crazy challenging day. How I look forward to being in my space to decompress. Can you imagine not having that? Can you imagine sleeping peacefully two feet from a complete stranger? With your children doing the same…

I think about that part a lot. What it must be like for the parents here, putting their children to bed, comforting them, and trying to convince them that everything will be ok. Then trying to do the same thing for themselves.

We moved through dinner service, smiling our friendly smiles, and hoping to maybe slightly brighten someone’s day. But it was impossible not to be so keenly aware of our privilege in the moment – being in the position to volunteer vs. being on the receiving end. We were keenly aware of our intrusion (even if benevolent) – of being smack in the middle of someone’s life when they are in such a vulnerable place.

We also recognized our time there was fleeting – we were there for a night, doing our good deed with all our good intentions, but we’d be back to our lives in a matter of hours – and we knew they knew it.

It was humbling.

Throughout the evening, some people engaged in friendly conversation with us, while others kept to themselves – and there were a few that needed to eschew the offering entirely, which I intuited as perhaps a way to maintain a sense of self in the face of peers – completely understandable. I honestly don’t know how I would handle being in that situation. Some families had dinner and went back out and sat in their car, just to have some private space together before coming back in for bedtime.

There are faces from that evening I will never forget. Mothers and fathers who smiled tired smiles. Others that were just plain tired. Little kids that were so resilient… A very kind father with his sweet daughter especially left a mark, and I think of them often.

We all left that evening with an intense level of gratitude, and some heavy hearts. Our little volunteer group spent the next few hours conversing about the dynamics of that human interaction: about socioeconomics, housing, gentrification, cycles of poverty, social justice/injustice, humanity, dignity and empathy.

At the end of it all, it was a beautiful and powerful experience to be a part of, and our goal is for Blackbird to develop ongoing volunteer opportunities at the PHFS day centers – so that we are not a fleeting presence for just one night.

With gratitude,

Kristen Cooper, Blackbird Benefits Collective

We are so close to opening the “Moon Shot” - eight years ahead of schedule.

We put in an offer of $3.3 million in December 2017.

Brandi signs the paperwork to buy the property on May 23rd!

Our PHFS Village celebrates the morning after we take ownership.

143 volunteers gave 690 hours to help us remodel.

So far, we’ve received over $200,000 of in-kind building material donations.

Our new campus will serve 26 families at a time in private bedrooms.

The last two years have been transformational for PHFS.

In response to the overwhelming community need to expand and serve more families, PHFS formulated a 10-year vision during a strategic planning retreat in April 2017. 

We envisioned owning and operating a program where families experiencing homelessness could come anytime, 24-hours a day, to access a variety of services – shelter, rapid re-housing, homeless prevention, life skills classes, mental health care, a hot meal, or a pack of diapers. This dream seemed so distant and audacious that we called it “The Moon Shot.” 

But by December 2017, we had found a building in the SE Lents neighborhood that felt like it was made for our Moon Shot vision. So we put in an offer to buy the building. We thought it would take us ten years to achieve our Moon Shot goal, but opportunity struck and we found ourselves with five months to raise $3.3 million. 

So many of you contributed to help us buy our building, and by the end of May 2018 we signed the paperwork, becoming owners of the one-acre property that will triple our capacity from 8 to 26 families a night, and allow us to expand all of our services.

Over the summer, we were introduced to a professional design team who spent months designing our new shelter using trauma-informed design and architecture, which is proven to help families get out of shelter faster and have more success getting into housing. When we first purchased the building, we had no idea that we would be creating the first family shelter of its kind in Oregon: a shelter that will help families heal through the trauma and crisis of homelessness by using the evidence-based model of trauma-informed design and architecture.

And now here we are, just months from opening our “Moon Shot”program – eight years ahead of schedule. We are so close, but still need your help to close the gap so we can welcome families this summer. Please consider a gift to PHFS so we can finish the remodel and fully implement our trauma-informed shelter that will build dignity, restore power, and promote autonomy for the families that live there.

Thank you for being on this journey with us. 

With Gratitude,

Brandi Tuck,
PHFS Executive Director

Jump for Joy!

A valentine’s campaign to bring joy, play, and connection to outdoor activity for homeless families with children.

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A Shelter with Heart

PHFS is thrilled to be on the forefront of family shelter models that use trauma-informed design and architecture to create places that support emotional health. In addition to remodeling the interior of the building, in partnership with Jessica Helgerson Interior Design, we are designing the exterior using these concepts as well. PHFS is so excited to be working with Corlett Landscape Architecture, Maul Foster Environmental Engineering, and Naomi Miller, lighting designer, to help us realize these dreams.

Landscape Architect Cathy Corlett has designed a beautiful sanctuary that will help parents and kids feel calm, connected, and safe while they are guests at our shelter. It includes a playground, community food garden, basketball court, covered picnic area, dog walk area, and multiple types of gardens.

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Before and After

The Lents campus includes a former church and apartments, surrounded almost completely by asphalt. The design team worked together to identify opportunities to extend the function of the buildings into the outdoor spaces, ways to address constraints such as storm-water drainage and safety, and strategies to unify these spaces as a campus.

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Landscape design by Corlett Landscape Architecture

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 Applying the Aesthetics of Joy

With the recognition that an important part of trauma recovery is regaining a sense of optimism, the aesthetics of the outdoor spaces emphasize joy through curvilinear spaces, spherical and rounded forms, and materials and spaces which create a sense of abundance, lightness, and clarity. Kids and families growing their own food encourages a positive self-image, a sense of resourcefulness, supported by connection with the bounty, beauty, and healing power of the natural environment.

Play spaces encourage freedom of motion, creative problem solving, quiet reflection, and imagination. They are about building physical, emotional, and mental resiliency and confidence through healthy exploration. Play spaces for children, pets, and adults are places where it’s ok to be yourself, and habits of happiness can be established and honed. 

Connection is created in spaces designed for chance encounters as well as extended conversation.  These spaces foster friendship, stability and a sense of home and being cared about. Connection spaces also encourage engagement with a larger community and a sense of belonging and having a purpose. Dignity and self-empowerment are fostered through opportunities for service and learning. Plants also reinforce connection.

All outdoor spaces at PHFS Lents are designed to feel welcoming, structured, and predictable. These spaces aim to minimize feelings of being vulnerable, confused, or insecure. Safe spaces have clear boundaries and are easy to navigate, because the environment provides intuitive way-finding cues. A feeling of personal security, autonomy and the option of privacy is provided by movable furniture and places to be alone without feeling isolated or lonely.  All outdoor spaces are warmly lit and well-monitored, with open sightlines, and a friendly human presence.  

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Plant Materials

Throughout the year the plant materials at PHFS’ Lents Campus will inspire joy, and invite playful and safe interaction. In summer there will be strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple guavas to pick and enjoy. In late summer and fall, there will be ripe grapes, huckleberries, the scent of the Harlequin Glorybower tree. In winter, evergreen native plants in storm-water gardens such as Evergreen Huckleberry, blooming Oregon Grape, and red berries of Wintergreen and Kinnickinnick will bring good cheer through the greyest of days. With spring comes a glorious show as the Yellowwood and Ceanothus trees will bloom. Containers near doorways will hold seasonal flowering plants for a burst of friendly color to set a positive mood. Flowering and fruiting vines will grow up fences and trellises, and the tiny, bright fruits of Mountain Ash and Serviceberry trees will attract migrating songbirds.

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Help bring this beautiful design to life!

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Credits
Corlett Landscape Architecture
Maul Foster Alongi
Naomi Miller
Cascade Recreation Equipment
Aesthetics of Joy by Ingrid Fettel Lee

#GivingTuesday: Funds for Furniture Campaign!

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, near the big shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

This year, PHFS is raising funds to buy furniture for our new campus in Lents that fits in with our trauma informed design and architecture. Research shows that families who live in trauma informed shelters have shorter shelter stays and have greater success moving into (and keeping) housing.

We plan to welcome 6 new families to our new shelter this winter, and 12 more next spring, but we need your help to make it possible!

Day Shelter Living Rooms 
$1,000+

Our day shelter will be split up into four living room "pods" with 4-foot walls to give families privacy and a calm place to unwind after the day. Each pod will include a built in sofa with storage room under the cushions. Your donation will pay for the carpentry for the couches, three sets of couch cushions, rugs, coffee tables, and side chairs to make this a relaxing space for families. Two living rooms will also feature TVs so families can watch movies together.

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Dining Room
$750-$999

If you've volunteered at PHFS, you know that lunch and dinner are our favorite times of day. Staff, volunteers, and families all sit down together and share meals while we talk about our day. Donate to help us purchase enough tables and chairs so we can continue this wonderful tradition in our new dining room. 

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Private Family Bedrooms 
$500-$749

For the first time in PHFS history, each family will have their own private bedroom with 24-hour access. We want these bedrooms to feel cozy and welcoming. Donate to PHFS so we can purchase our bunk beds, mattresses, and rugs. Families are excited to sleep on real beds with real mattresses!

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Computer Lab
$250-$499

We are so excited to feature a computer lab in our new Lents day shelter. Families can use the computer lab to apply for housing and look for jobs, and kids can work on homework. Your donation will help pay for the desks, chairs, and computers.

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Make the Beds
$100-$249

A mom who lived in our shelters once told us "I could actually sleep at PHFS' shelter because I knew my children were safe." Help us buy new sheets, blankets, and pillows so moms like this can get enough rest every night they are guests at our shelter.

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Stock the Cupboards
$10-$99

For the first time, PHFS will have a full kitchen where we can serve three meals a day to families. Since we've never had a kitchen before, we need pots, pans, baking sheets, bowls, plates, cups, flatware... everything! 

PHFS to open new shelter in Lents

PHFS staff and board celebrating in front of the new shelter property on May 24th. 

We did it!

Our entire village came together and generated $3.3million in just five months to purchase this campus that will shelter 26 families at a time in private rooms, expand our homeless prevention and life skills programs, and has room to develop affordable housing units in the future.

We are so grateful for the hundreds of people, foundations, and businesses who stepped up and said, "Enough is enough - we will not accept family homelessness as normal!" Your contributions and support will end homelessness for thousands of kids and their parents. 

Over the summer, we will host many volunteer opportunities to help us set up the space and get it ready for families. We will also host tours and an open house so everyone can see our new space. The goal is to welcome families in this fall, hopefully as early as September. We can't wait to share our new home with you!

Thank you!